Cuba opens to American tourists, but still complicated to visit without expert help

Cuba opens to American tourists, but still complicated to visit without
expert help
By Terry Richard | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on October 15, 2015 at 5:00 AM, updated October 15, 2015 at 12:05 PM

The U.S. government has eased travel restrictions to Cuba, but it's
still a complicated process should you wish to travel legally to the
island just south of Florida.

There are flights from Toronto or Cancun, Mexico, to Havana, but Cuba
travel expert Ronen Paldi advises caution when considering those. Go
legally, was the message he carried to the Here and There Travel Fest at
the Portland Convention Center.

Paldi has been to Cuba 28 times since his first trip in 2000 and
specializes in legal travel to Cuba with his travel agency, Ya'lla Tours
USA, at 4711 S.W. Huber St., Suite 1, Portland.

Air travel options have expanded greatly to Cuba, with flights now from
Miami, Tampa, Orlando, New York and more. Los Angeles will soon have a
once-a-week charter to Havana, a flight Paldi likes to book because it
does not require an overnight coming and going in the gateway city, for
Cuba travel from Portland.

Getting to Cuba is easy, but booking a hotel that meets international
standards is not. "And Beyonce and her husband will already be staying
in the suite at the Saratoga Hotel,'' said Paldi, drawing laughter from
his well-attended seminar on Cuba at the travel show.

Paldi says his agency can design Cuban travel packages for a variety of
needs, though small group escorted tours are the primary way Americans
travel in Cuba. Of a dozen travel options allowed by the U.S. State
Department, the guise of "humanitarian" travel is easiest for him to
arrange. Such trips usually include a donation to a religious
institution in Cuba.

Cuban travel is not cheap: $5,495 per person, double occupancy for one
week, plus airfare. It is also not easy to book, and Ya'lla Tours is
filled through its May departure.

"It's supply and demand,'' Paldi said. "There is way more demand than
there is supply, especially for hotel rooms."

And no, he said, despite what officials at the the highest level of U.S.
government say, you cannot use a credit card in Cuba. "That won't happen
until an American bank signs an agreement with a Cuban bank," Paldi said.

-- Terry Richard
trichard@oregonian.com

Source: Cuba opens to American tourists, but still complicated to visit
without expert help | OregonLive.com -
http://www.oregonlive.com/travel/index.ssf/2015/10/cuba_opens_to_american_tourist.html